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Lost a lot of memory on my NEC v20 system

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Robin4

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Sep 25, 2011
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I had just installed compaq dos 3.31 latest version (i think version G)(have the newer command prompt. And sees the directory if iam in it.)
I installed the bus mouse with IRQ 3 and uses microsoft drivers that were included with ms windows 3.0 (installed on the VGA WONDER+ bus mouse port)
I had installed windows 3.0
Installed the highresolution drivers for ATI VGA wonder + under windows 3.0 as 800x600.

It automaticly installed himem.sys on my system, but need to remove that line from de config.sys.
I also installed IOMEGA software to see if it could run on my NEC v20 so i could use a SCSI zip drive on it.

Now i have a little big problem.. I have only 446KB of memory left. And that isnt enough to run checkit of microsoft diagnostics.. I want to know where the memory has bin.. Did windows 3.0 take almost of the memory? Is it possible to use extended memory as a add-on memory card and could it be used with windows 3.0?I like to have windows 3.0 on it, because its runs nicely on my rig.

Could one of these drivers / software run on a memory extended, or expanded board.. Then i have more memory free to run programs.
 
Robin4 said:
I have only 446KB of memory left. ... Did windows 3.0 take almost of the memory? .
Click to expand...
Yes, Windows is a big memory hog. Is that 446K before or after windows is started? If it' the latter, that's pretty good for a V20 Machine. I can only manage 430K after loading Win 3.0 on my HEAVILY modded 5155! That's with DOS and Command.com and all drivers and tsr's loaded in UMB. I have 631K available BEFORE loading windows. As far as extended memory, no that won't happen on a V20. Expanded is possible, but is slow, and i'm not sure if Windows 3.0 can make use of it.

As Chuck say's, let's see your config.sys and autoexec.bat
 
I think you could do mem /c or mem /p to print out what's taking memory in dos. Obviously having your GUI loaded though will take a good chunk. You could also bypass it all during a dos boot with F5 (ugh.. I can't believe my eyes actually looked at F5 like that would type anything) or holding shift during the loading ms-dos ..hm.. actually what version of dos are you on? IBM or Microsoft?
 
Compgeke said:
How much total memory does the system have?

If anything I would say that the Iomega Zip drivers are taking up a lot of space.
Click to expand...

Its a STJUKO clone board.. with a total of 1024KB memory installed.. He uses 640KB of base memory the other part is only for memory mapping i guess. It can be used for programs..
Would extended memory on a memory board fixing this problem, so then i have more base memory left..
I like to use Microsoft windows 3.0 too..

Chuck(G) said:
Let's see your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. That should tell the story.
Click to expand...

I dont know how can edit or copy system setting.. like config.sys or autoexec.bat..

ibmapc said:
Yes, Windows is a big memory hog. Is that 446K before or after windows is started? If it' the latter, that's pretty good for a V20 Machine. I can only manage 430K after loading Win 3.0 on my HEAVILY modded 5155! That's with DOS and Command.com and all drivers and tsr's loaded in UMB. I have 631K available BEFORE loading windows. As far as extended memory, no that won't happen on a V20. Expanded is possible, but is slow, and i'm not sure if Windows 3.0 can make use of it.

As Chuck say's, let's see your config.sys and autoexec.bat
Click to expand...

Yes i know that windows likes memory very much.. Didnt know that it could eat the base memory like that..
I didnt checked it before i installed windows 3.0 on my computer. I seen it later when i want to run microsoft diagnostics and checkit utility tools.. that the system couldnt run it, because off lack of memory..
Why couldnt i use extended memory on this V20 machine?? Its just like a ISA board plugged in and installing software, or does windows 3.0 work with extended memory?

barythrin said:
I think you could do mem /c or mem /p to print out what's taking memory in dos. Obviously having your GUI loaded though will take a good chunk. You could also bypass it all during a dos boot with F5 (ugh.. I can't believe my eyes actually looked at F5 like that would type anything) or holding shift during the loading ms-dos ..hm.. actually what version of dos are you on? IBM or Microsoft?
Click to expand...

Ok, i will try later to see whats in config.sys and autoexec.bat if i have more time and how i know what would work..

Iam using Compaq dos 3.31 Release G (with the new command prompt like MS-DOS 6.22)
 
Last edited:
You could back up your autoexec.bat and config.sys and try memmaker if it's MS-DOS 6.x or higher to see if it can figure out any good tricks to put things in highmem, etc. I haven't used it for a long time but a wikipedia user implies you can run it with /undo if it doesn't satisfy your issues to undo that changes it made.
 
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